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I know folks have mentioned Krasl here, and on ArtShowReviews, but I can't find anything more recent than 2013. Anyone have any recent experience or feedback?

Thanks in advance. 

Larry

March 10 & 11 
Leesburg, Florida
Presented by: Leesburg Center for the Arts

The Leesburg Art Festival is held on Main Street in the shopping district of Historic Downtown Leesburg. Leesburg is located in the heart of Central Florida, equal distance from each coast, just 12 miles from The Villages and 17 miles from Mount Dora.

Some of the country's most accomplished artists, as well as rising stars, vie for the $1,500 Best in Show Award, Merit, and Judge's Choice Awards during the juried event.  Cash awards totaling $5,750 will be awarded.  

June 15-17
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
56th Annual Festival of Art
Presented by the Milwaukee Art Museum
180 Artists
Deadline: December 8

Application fee: $35; Booth fee: $500

Awards:

A total of $10,500 in awards will be

presented. Ten awards of $1,000 each to be given where excellence is determined by the jurors. The remaining $500 is awarded to the winner of the Sculpture Garden media/ category.  Awards are based on the artist's entire presentation. The top ten award-winning artists are invited back to LFOA for the following year without jurying. 

Jurors will also select Honorable Mention award winners, all of whom are invited back to LFOA for the next year without jurying. LFOA typically receives about 1,000 applications for up to 200 booth spaces. Approximately (25) of those spaces are reserved for artist advisors, past award winners (selected by the previous year’s jurors), poster artist and design award competition winner.

Learn more: lfoa.mam.org

Apply: https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=5952

I've been painting for over two years but still consider myself a beginner. I did my first art fair in September and my second (and most recent) today (December 2). The first time I sold several paintings, today I only sold one. I never know what to price my artwork at. I am posting a close-up of one of my favorite paintings. What are your thoughts?

Wondering if anyone did the Art Festival in Estero, Ft. Myers, Fla. on Nov. 18th & 19th ?

How was traffic and sales ?

Thank You 

Sign up, send a gift, get a gift, be happy!

Deadline: midnight, Nov. 30.

60 artists signed up so far. Matching begins on Friday, December 1.

If you've signed up, awesome! You're are among a great group of artists, who have signed up to spread happiness and joy all around (and don't you know we need it).

If you haven't signed up yet, then what are you waiting for? You can be a part of the magic! You could even be matched with special guest participants like Snoop Dogg, Bill Gates, or even Kim Kardashian!

You won't want to miss out—this is your last chance!

Click here for more info:  http://www.artfairinsiders.com/forum/topics/naughty-or-nice-here-comes-our-6th-annual-secret-santa-exchange

Columbus, Ohio
Ohio Expo Center
Presented By: Ohio Designer Craftsmen
155 Artists
Deadline: December 8

The Art Studio Clearance Sale is one of the most anticipated shows in Ohio by artists and shoppers alike! Booth fees are low, hours are easy and no fancy set-up is required. Shoppers eager to buy line up early from our parking lot to the front door ready to take home the deals.

Do you have work sitting in your studio that you aren't crazy about? Do you need feedback from shoppers on new work, designs, colors? Unload a kiln during the year only to discover a few firing mishaps? Have you been hauling around pieces that can't seem to find a home? BRING THEM TO THE ART STUDIO CLEARANCE SALE.

This is a Friday and Saturday show with setup on Thanksgiving Day, Produced by Boulderbrook Productions, Richard Sullivan.

This is a small show, less than 80 exhibitors, held around the Sanibel Community Center building which is on Periwinkle Way, the island’s main byway. This is an annual event that I have done at least eight times, that ought to tell you something.

Booth fee is $400, not cheap, but there are a lot of expenses for the promoter to juggle.

Being a holiday weekend, there are lots of tourists there. Most are affluent.

Ideally, you want an overcast weather that keeps them off the beaches, yet you do not want rain. This year we had a very humid setup on Thursday followed by gorgeous, cool weather, both days of the show.

Yep, many were at the beach, but we still had ample crowds of people to sell to. Most come early, after 1pm sales fall off big time.

The civic center had been remodeled and enlarged, so Richard lost nearly 15 spaces. But, for the first time, he was allowed about five artists to set up inside the center, with AC and lights.

There was a nice mix of art. Many diverse painters, a sprinkling of photographers, numerous jewelers, then a great mix of fine crafts, even some with custom clothing, like Billy.

It is November in Florida and it is hard to find shows where you can make big numbers, like $4K plus.
That said, a good number of artists did $2-3K, with an exceptional few who did some really big numbers.

The audience is monied, world wide savvy and eager to acquire. That said, most of them have very conservative tastes. The tried and true sell best here. I saw plenty of “Florida Dreck” imagery go by me all weekend, but that is what sells best here. Surprisingly, I sold a good number of my iconic black and white handcolored images here along with my tropical work. I have a loyal following here and I did about 5x the booth fee. For Florida fall that is not bad. I am grinding it out, making a small profit and surviving til January when bigger numbers will come my way.

I am up 25% over 2016. Part of that is due to getting into five top tier shows. But I also have premiered more than 60 new images that are really selling. Also, I am very people friendly with all who enter my booth. I greet them with a smile, when they ask how things are, I reply, “Super!” Then I sit back and watch them look at the imagery, when I see interest, I tell them a story about it. I am a story teller and people like that. When they ask me what kind of work I do , I tell them I am a Dream-Maker. They like that.

The main thing is, when you see interest from a patron about the work, it is important to engage them. People love to buy something which has a story attached to it. The big advantage that we on the street have over galleries and online selling, is our personae. Your art and your personae are big assets, take advantage of that.

Happy trails, later gators.

I'm certainly not a tax expert, but have been using Turbo to file ours for many years.  All those business deductions going away will put a crimp in our travel and how much we spend on shows - not to mention other expenses too.  If this thing gets passed I can imagine it'll put a real dent in shows themselves as well.

Turtle Creek Arts Festival in Dallas Texas is the second weekend of November.  This was the inaugural show.  The show takes place in Reverchon Park next to Katy trail.  Turtle Creek is a very high end area of Dallas, in the middle of the city.  Many artists won’t do a first year show but I have had success with new shows when they are in the right area.  Downtown shows, especially in high-end neighborhoods,  are the exact market for our work.  So we decided to go for it even though that meant driving all the way from Atlanta.  It didn’t hurt that a single booth was only $225.  The show is run by FFPS based out of Atlanta.  Some of our top shows are put on by FFPS and we like working with the team so this was another big factor on why we decided to go. 

Set up was on Friday with about 100-125 artists.  This is a park show with one road.  Everyone had to dolly.  Some dollys were easy and close and some were a bit of a hike.  I have seen worse but be prepared.  When you arrived you checked in and then parked on one side of the road to unload.  After you unloaded you went and parked your car near by then went back to set up.  Set up went very smoothly and even though the road in and out was tight there was never a problem.   Every booth had lots of space especially in the back.  The booths were along a path and completed a circle so all booths were visited.   There was a kids area in the middle of the show next to the playground.  It didn’t interfere with the show.  There were about 4 food trucks and music that were placed appropriately, close to the show but didn’t interfere with the art.  

The show was Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 11-5.  The weather was great on Saturday.  Lots of sales going out, big sales, right away.  We did 10x booth by 11 am on Saturday.  I heard many artists asking the director if they could have the same booth spots next show before noon.   The crowds were good, not packed but good for a first year show and we had interested and knowledgeable people in our booth the entire day.  The patrons were not sure what to expect since it was the first year and they were all very excited to see real art.  There were a lot of great artists and overall I was impressed.  

Sunday morning we made our deliveries from the day before and went to open up the booth.  It was a rainy day, nothing heavy, mainly a mist for most of the day until around 3 pm I think.  The crowds were not as strong on Sunday.   Rainy days often bring out the real buyers and I saw a lot of art walking out.  Luckily the rain ended early enough that the tent was dry and we wouldn’t be breaking down in the rain. 

Breakdown started right at 5pm.  The deal was you had to breakdown, dolly your stuff to the curb, get a pass then get your vehicle.  I was worried about breakdown and getting everyone in and out but it went so smoothly since the show enforced the rules.  A couple artists tried sneaking in spouses vehicles ahead of time but the staff was strict and made them move.   

I really enjoyed this show and will definitely  return if accepted.  There are always challenges with a new show.  This show will need to work on parking options.  On Saturday the artists were told to park on the streets of the neighborhood so they could save the parking in the park for patrons.  It was easy to find street parking in the morning but got harder later in the day.  The show got a parking lot at the hospital next to the park on Sunday for the artists.  This helped everyone.  I know next time it will get even better.  Hotels  downtown can be expensive but there were a ton of very affordable air bnbs.   If you are a foodie you will love this part of Dallas, we celebrated at Trulucks,  one of the best meals I have had in a long time.   Can’t wait to come back.  

Call for artists: Residency program in Budapest, Hungary in 2018
We are pleased to announce Open Call for Artists: Hungarian Multicultural Center residency program in Budapest, Hungary.

Subject: “Environmental Project”& ‘BookArt”

Deadline: December 20, 2017

Session 1: Tuesday, May 15 - Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Session 2: Tuesday, June 12 - Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Session 3: Tuesday, July 10 - Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Session 4: Tuesday, August 7 - Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Session 5: Wednesday, December 26 - Friday, January 11, 2019

HMC International Artist Residency Program, a not-for-profit arts organization based in Dallas, TX / Budapest, Hungary - provides national and international artists to produce new work while engaging with the arts community in Budapest, Hungary. 

For more info and application form write to: Beata Szechy
bszechy@yahoo.com
http://www.hungarian-multicultural-center.com/id105.html

Just a review of my feelings and comments.

This had been a year with so many up and down. The consisting topic for sales this year is there is no reason why things goes well or bad. The consisting act it was playing catch up with the bills. I personally believe, that this is the first year where I feel I pick up good shows with potential and no regret of the outcome from any of my choices. This is the first year that make certain that I was over prepare for each show. There was no reason to doubt myself if the show went south on me.

I remove myself from Facebook groups and did not review any show because I wanted to see where I was standing at the end of the year and to not see too much negativity. It seems to be a very hard year to many of my friends that started about the same time as me and do not have deep pockets to cover bad shows. It was important to me see other people struggle same as me but even more important see friends with the same problems and learn from them how to keep going.

Let me share what I finally understand but there is no guarantee this may work next year.
Figure out my budget per month and including a savings account. That budget should be the goal set for each show. I need to be part between 24 to 30 shows that have the potential for being good for me. I can aim to the stars but need to be realistic where I am as an art show artist. At slow shows look around at the display of other artists and see that will work for me. This year because I took an advice from friend to print big I realized that my standard tent is to small to display my work properly. Those that means that affect my sales I do not know but want to see my work as I will see at a house. What does that mean for me is to rise the wall 22 inches and eliminate the center wall. I understand that presentation is what you stand out from the rest. I am adjusting my pricing of my items because I need market what I believe is the proper price and have confidence that they will move at that price point because I am as good as the next photographer in next booth we just have different vision in our work. Until this day I had not seen any art show artist doing work that has not been done in the past and is like any other skill job we have some skills better than others but nobody is light years ahead of anyone. Anyone that believe that is just arrogant artist and good for them.

When you apply to show just not apply for applying. Black and white photography specially the one still done in the darkroom it consider to be better. Using film is consider to be better photography. Advance manipulate photography is consider better art. Photography is not consider real fine art. Those are the assumption going in. Jury process is the first step in our industry. Know what shows use this assumptions are shows that wont apply. Yes they tell us that we get different jurors each year but guide line for the shows are the same. The art shows are no different that a gallery. They have an idea what they want at the show. That process I may be not apply to certain shows any more: La Plaza, Winter Park and St Louis Art Fair. This is a honest observation of my work vs what I understand about the show. Still to this moment I am upset with friend that I told this and consider my point that is stupid and childless. This shows had produce a lot of income to people that get in but the key is to get in which it brings back to my observation. I believe that all show started in some place and those shows can become very good for me because I will put the work and effort. At the shows that you are in keep a positive perspective and know that hardest thing is deal with the fact that may not have enough to cover bills if the show does not produce. Regardless what people said we all have that problem.

I am applying to shows that fail in the past. Why I am doing that, well it had been a while since I did them. My work and presentation had improve. I believe that should give them another try if those shows still had good recommendations. I hope to be back at the sows that did well in the last two years and keep improving my work.

The biggest lessons are not to doubt your choices and keep improving your craft and marketing. I personally do not have a big budget to start this adventure and paid as I go. I do not have a spouse to cover the bills when thing go bad. My biggest fear is to be homeless and that is a fear I face with outcome of each show. Some people will understand others will take this wrong way. There political factor that affect the economic environment. There are people at lot republican artists as well as democrats so do not assume things. Being a minority in this country sucks and people wont understand that so why to even bother to explain.

For all these I am grateful for my friends: Adam Egenolf, Thomas Harris, Anita Melling Baldauf, Stephen Baldauf, Mark and Wendy Zoschke, Chad Jerzak, and crazy Tanya Leslie.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The 2018 Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival will become a three-day event, opening on Friday, from 10am-5pm, and thereby provide access to an entirely NEW buying audience: the approximately 10,000-person workforce in the Town Center!

It is an audience we have not truly reached in the past (we used to open on Friday night, but by then the workforce had already left). Making the very significant logistical investment in a Friday opening provides A NEW, BUILT-IN, AFFLUENT BUYING AUDIENCE looking for world-class art for their offices, homes, for gifts, and more. It reflects our relentless focus on investing to grow our audience (and we typically draw tens of thousands of visitors already) and driving sales, explaining why ArtFairCalendar.com has described this as a festival where "the 'art stars' of the outdoor art fairs vie for spaces."

Added bonus: we will now move our Festival Party, to Saturday night (7-9:30pm) and use it to announce our Artist Awards ($500 cash prize for our ten awardees, a blue ribbon to display at their booths, and automatic acceptance into next year's Festival). By making the Artist Awards the focus of the evening (something we could not do when opening on Saturday; not enough time for judging of booths), we will shine an even brighter spotlight on our participating artists and your work. As always, our artists and their plus-ones are our party guests, FREE, another of our nationally renowned artist amenities.

These major changes will make the 2018 Festival bigger and better than ever! Artists applications for juror review are required by Sunday, December 10, through the Juried Art Services website. http://www.juriedartservices.com/index.php?content=event_info&event_id=1319

Artist set up will be on Thursday during the day and Festival operating hours will be 10am - 5pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Garage parking will be free all three days.
The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival is the Greater Reston Art Center's (GRACE's) largest annual fundraiser. www.restonarts.org

January 20 & 21

• Soccerdogs.org is our non-profit outreach.
• Food truck rally
• Expanded kids area
• Classic and European car shows

In the midst of all of these “for sale” blog postings, I thought I should get a discussion going on a topic of interest to us all.  So here goes:

Despite historically low inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) has increased by 18% in the last ten years (from 207.3 to 244.3).  Have you increased your prices by 18% as well?  If not, why not?

I've been accepted to the Old Island Days Art Festival in Key West on February 24-25. Any opinions out there about the wisdom of doing this show? Of all the venues for art fairs around Florida, Key West (and the Keys in general) seemed to be the hardest hit by hurricanes. I just wonder if vacationers and visitors are even going down there yet. I've got Images in New Smyrna, then Fort Myers, then Jupiter before Key West comers up

Denver, Colorado

* Average artist sales $12,345 (as reported from the 2017 artist survey)

* Over $1 million in marketing and advertising the visual artists

* $30,000 offered in artist purchase awards

* 350,000 annual visitors hosted over the festival weekend

* Projection jury process

" I appreciate all the work the entire arts festival team puts in to make this festival what it is. It is obvious at every level how much goes into this show and it makes cherry creek such a fantastic show to take part in!"